"You Betrayed The Tamil People...": Udhayanidhi Stalin Rips Into AIADMK

Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin on Thursday accused arch-rival Edappadi K Palaniswami of "trying to pave the way for the BJP... to gain ground" before next year's election.

Mr Stalin, son of Chief Minister MK Stalin, said the AIADMK boss had 'betrayed' the Tamil people by aligning with the BJP after claiming he would not, and warned the saffron party, which has historically struggled for traction in the state, it "can never touch the heart of the Tamils".

Mr Stalin also framed the context of the forthcoming election; "... this is not just political... it is a battle to protect our land, pride, and mother tongue," he said, underlining two issues - delimitation and 'Hindi imposition' - that are likely to dominate poll rhetoric on all sides.

"The AIADMK is desperately trying to pave the way for the BJP... but as long as there are cadres in black and red (the DMK's colours), saffron will never gain ground in Tamil Nadu," Mr Stalin said.

"Edappadi K Palaniswami once confidently said there would be no alliance with the BJP. But he has switched lanes... he went into hiding and secretly struck a deal. This betrayal must be uprooted. The BJP can never touch the heart of Tamil people," the Deputy Chief Minister said.

The BJP and AIADMK were allies for two major recent elections - the 2019 federal and 2021 state polls - but were beaten by the DMK-Congress combine on both occasions. They broke up in 2023 after snide attacks on AIADMK icons by K Annamlai, then the BJP's state unit boss.

The split was welcomed by the AIADMK, which called it their "happiest moment".

They contested the 2024 Lok Sabha election solo but the DMK and its allies won that too.

In June that year, despite a crushing defeat in the election, EPS insisted there could be not alliance with the BJP, or any national party, since they could not understand the problems of the Tamil people.

In November that view was unchanged, senior leader D Jayakumar repeated his boss' sentiment.

But then in April they revived ties; the BJP acknowledging, perhaps, the need for a regional face in a political landscape they have never quite understood, and the AIADMK, boosted by the support but wary of the impact of the alliance on voters from minorities and marginalised communities.

That wariness was evident in comments last week about the BJP being a 'silent partner'.

READ | "Our Alliance Will Win But...": AIADMK Warns BJP Before Tamil Nadu Election

At a DMK event in Chennai Thursday, Udhayanidhi Stalin emphasised that 'betrayal' and also re-ignited the language row, claiming the BJP-led centre had not given "a single rupee" for Tamil Nadu's education sector, but gave party-ruled Uttar Pradesh and Assam "thousands of crores".

The DMK has been fiercely critical of the centre over the three-language formula set out in the National Education Policy of 2020, in which Hindi has been made a 'third language' at schools.

The Tamil Nadu government (and other political parties from non-Hindi speaking state, such as Maharashtra's Shiv Sena (UBT) and MNS) have protested the 'imposition' of the northern language, which is an emotive issue and was even the reason for violence in Chennai in 1963.

The language row flared up in March after the Tamil party accused the BJP of withholding funds for the education sector, a charge Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan later acknowledged.

Since then the two have frequently traded barbs, and the DMK has called out the AIADMK for its alliance, arguing "some (had) failed to understand the agenda of turning India into a Hindi nation".

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